Art Chansky’s Sports Notebook is presented by The Casual Pint. YOUR place for delicious pub food paired with local beer. Choose among 35 rotating taps and 200+ beers in the cooler.
Carolina has entered the NIL world through the front door.
Since Name-Image-Likeness hit college athletics like a surprise tsunami, UNC has not been at the forefront of ways for athletes to earn income beyond what is allowed through athletic scholarships. Until now.
Mack Brown was first to openly complain about what was supposed to be illegal in NIL, the paying of players to come as freshman or through the transfer portal. Carolina’s policy is not to pay athletes up front, which puts it at a disadvantage because so many schools are doing just that to sign kids.
But the Tar Heel brand is big enough to make TV stars out of those athletes who have secured agents to help them line up sponsorships with businesses, resulting in the kind of publicity few schools have through NIL.
Armando Bacot is the poster child for that method. A graduate senior who took his fifth season and attends UNC’s Kenan Flagler business school, Bacot has a burgeoning NIL portfolio. The latest is a TV commercial promoting Intuit Turbo Tax that is all over the NCAA Tournament coverage.
He walks into a fast-food restaurant, almost elegantly, but the commercial is not for fast food. It is for Intuit, and Bacot makes an articulate pitch for their services at the height of tax season. While what he earns is private, it is not chicken feed for the player who, according to his family, has made more than a million dollars over the last two years through various NIL deals.
Elliot Cadeau looks super cool leading the UNC marching band in a Marriott Bonvoy commercial, another high-class representation for a UNC hoops star. Cadeau has been playing the NIL game since he was in high school, the first prep star to ink an international sponsorship with a Swedish company.
And most recently, Tar Heel reserve Paxson Wojcik is featured on a promotion for Skims, the product line owned by the Kardashians. He appears on social media and in print ads with five other college basketball players, among them Arizona (and née) Carolina star Caleb Love. Turns out Pax received some tips from teammate Seth Trimble who once modeled children’s clothing.
Paxson Wojcik for SKIMS. pic.twitter.com/aRJpZJABua
— SKIMS (@skims) March 19, 2024
This has helped raise UNC’s NIL profile, if not paying six- and seven-figure “signing bonuses” that aren’t tied to NIL like at other schools. So, through the Carolina brand that is stronger than ever, Tar Heel athletes are benefiting both financially and professionally by doing NIL the way it was intended.
As Hubert Davis’ team is back in the limelight, these NIL opportunities have happened almost organically for a school always in the national conversation for more than sports. It looks and smells a lot better than pay for play.
Featured image via Todd Melet
Art Chansky is a veteran journalist who has written ten books, including best-sellers “Game Changers,” “Blue Bloods,” and “The Dean’s List.” He has contributed to WCHL for decades, having made his first appearance as a student in 1971. His “Sports Notebook” commentary airs daily on the 97.9 The Hill WCHL and his “Art’s Angle” opinion column runs weekly on Chapelboro.Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees, and you can directly support our efforts in local journalism here. Want more of what you see on Chapelboro? Let us bring free local news and community information to you by signing up for our newsletter.
I don’t like this as it has made a mockery of whatever was left of the student athlete in today’s sports. I applaud UNC for trying to do it the right way and I applaud Armando and the other UNC players for making it work without it seeming to detract from the idea they are there to get an education. Very few players represent their school as well as Armando.